Just Opened: Avenue Road’s new Leslieville showroom

The place: For the Avenue Road team, 415 Eastern Avenue was a worthy fixer-upper. The store’s previous showroom—a go-to spot for contemporary designer furniture—was in the area on Booth Street but was too small to properly display all the lines it carried. The new three-level space was formerly a Consumers Gas Company warehouse and most recently housed the printing facilities of the World Journal, a Chinese-language daily. After a year and a half of renovations (it opened in June), the soaring ceilings, concrete floors and painted brick are a tribute to its history.

The stuff: All the mainstays from the previous store are still here: the curving sofas from Yabu Pushelberg, a classic armchair from Brazilian designer Jorge Zalszupin, Piero Lissoni’s glass tables from Italy, along with a new area on the upper floor to use as a gallery or display space for seasonal items—outdoor furniture currently occupies the space.

The shoppers: Interior decorators and their clients, along with the growing crowd of Toronto design junkies looking to source that must-have chair they saw in Wallpaper.

Our favourite things: The Rug Company’s playful handmade rugs ($1,000–$60,000), many of which are collaborations with such designers as Vivienne Westwood and Matthew Williamson, are on display in a lower-level showroom—the first time the coveted line has been offered in Canada.